ASSIGNMENT #2 ANALYZE THE VULNERABILITY

AND THE BENEFIT OF USING THE Microsoft Exchange,

THE E-MAIL, THE Microsoft Outlook.

Course Name: IAA202

Student Name: TRAN THANH HUNG
Instructor Name: MAI HOANG DINH
Lab Due Date: 2/24/2020

1. Microsoft Exchange
 Vulnerability:
A vulnerability has been discovered in Microsoft Exchange, which could allow
for privilege escalation. In the context of any compromised email account on the
network, an attacker may be able to gain access to the Domain Admin account due
to default configuration settings on Microsoft Exchange Servers. It is also possible
to perform this attack without any credentials. An attacker may achieve this due to
the following:
Exchange Servers by default are configured with many high privilege
operations, this includes write access to the Domain Object in Active Directory.
Access to Domain Object enables the user to modify domain privileges.
Exchange Servers are vulnerable to NTLM relay attacks because the Exchange
server fails to set the Sign and Seal flags on NTLM operations. This can allow
attackers to obtain the server’s NTML hash..
A feature in Exchange Web Services (EWS) can allow attackers to trick the
Exchange Server authenticate on an attacker-controlled URL over HTTP using the
server’s computer account.
If the attacker does not have credentials, it is possible to still trigger Exchange
to authenticate to an attacker controlled URL by performing a SMB to HTTP relay
attack.
  Advantage:
We can route our emails locally which can save the bandwidth in immense
amount.
We can backups our emails from a centralized location but in case of Yahoo
hosting we cant.

2. Gmail

 Vulnerability:

Michal Bentkowski, the chief security researcher at Securitum, was curious as

to the possibility of dynamic content in email opening up the opportunity to inject
arbitrary JavaScript code. This kind of cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability has
been a perennial thorn in the side of secure development. Simply put, an XSS
vulnerability enables an attacker to execute malicious scripts within a web
application.
Bentkowski found such an XSS vulnerability in the Gmail AMP4Email
implementation, an example of what he refers to as "a real-world exploitation of a
well-known browser issue called DOM Clobbering." Document Object Model
(DOM) clobbering is an old, legacy feature of web browsers. Here comes the
computer science bit, in brief, from the Bentkowski report. Instead of using a
function to reference an HTML-created element from JavaScript, this legacy
method accesses it by way of a property of the global window object instead. This
DOM clobbering can, Bentkowski said, "lead to interesting vulnerabilities if the
application makes decisions based on the existence of certain global variables." So
the potential was there for an attacker to use malicious code in a dynamic Gmail
message that could get executed in the browser when the recipient opened that
email.
[ CITATION RAC18 \l 1033 ]
  Advantage:
Utilize Gmail to store information, and you'll get to it from any area
that has an Online association. Essentially log into your Gmail account
and discover the message that contains your data. You can’t lose your
data, either; that may happen after you store it on a difficult drive that
might fall flat. Keeping information in Gmail moreover makes it simple
to share with others. For case, in the event that one of your messages
contains a video you’d like to share, you'll be able forward it to a
companion without having to transfer the video to begin with.

3. Microsoft Outlook

 Vulnerability:
A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Microsoft Outlook
software when it fails to properly handle objects in memory. An attacker
who successfully exploited the vulnerability could use a specially crafted
file to perform actions in the security context of the current user. For
example, the file could then take actions on behalf of the logged-on user
with the same permissions as the current user.

CVSS Score 9.3

Confidentiality Complete (There is total information disclosure, resulting in all system files
Impact being revealed.)
Integrity Impact Complete (There is a total compromise of system integrity. There is a complete
loss of system protection,
resulting in the entire system being compromised.)
Availability Complete (There is a total shutdown of the affected resource. The attacker can render
Impact the resource completely
unavailable.)
Access Medium (The access conditions are somewhat specialized. Some preconditions must
Complexity be satistified to exploit)
Authentication Not required (Authentication is not required to exploit the vulnerability.)
Gained Access None
Vulnerability
Execute CodeOverflow
Type(s)

 Advantage:
o Access Messages in An Organized Environment
Outlook utilizes a folder system that enables efficient
message organization. You can easily access each
message and any accompanying attachments all in one
place. Likewise, tasks such as sending messages and
attaching files can also be accomplished in an organized
fashion.

o Use Keyboard Commands to Quickly Perform

Tasks
Keyboard commands simplify the processes of
sending, replying to, and forwarding messages as well
as navigating the inbox and other folders. No need to
laboriously search through links to find what you’re
looking for when you can perform a specific task by
executing a keystroke.

o Manage Contacts
The Outlook desktop email client allows you to
manage contacts through simple navigation and
keyboard commands. Easily access the address book
and find important contacts when you need to send
messages or meeting requests.
References
KRAUS, R. (2018, Sep 29). Gmail's third-party app policy: Security experts explain the risks. Retrieved
from mashable: https://mashable.com/article/gmail-app-developers-cybersecurity/